Coyotes get rare win

Posted: Tuesday, March 23, 2004

By The Associated Press

ST. PAUL, Minn. Mike Comrie snapped the Coyotes' 15-game winless streak when he put back his own rebound with 24 seconds remaining in overtime, giving Phoenix a 3-2 win over the Minnesota Wild on Monday night.

On a breakaway, Comrie skated toward Manny Fernandez, and his first shot bounced off the goalie's leg. But Comrie got the rebound in the lower left circle and slipped it under the fallen Fernandez.

The Coyotes were 0-8-4-3 in their slide and 2-16-5-4 in their past 27 games. Their last win was Feb. 20 against Columbus. The last road win was Jan. 22 at San Jose, a span of 29 games.

Rick Bowness picked up initial victory since taking over for the fired Bob Francis on Feb. 24. Bowness is 1-7-3-3. Goaltender Brent Johnson got his first win since being acquired in a trade from St. Louis earlier this month. Johnson, who finished with 27 saves, is 1-3-1 with Phoenix.

Dan Cleary and Shane Doan also scored for the Coyotes.

Goals by Marc Chouinard and Nick Schultz gave Minnesota a 2-0 lead in the first period.

Turco faced just four shots in the first period, compared to 15 for Calgary's Miikka Kiprusoff as Dallas staked itself to a 3-0 lead.

Calgary was without coach-general manager Darryl Sutter and left wing Krzysztof Oliwa. Sutter was suspended for two games and Oliwa for three by the NHL for their roles in a late brawl Saturday night against Nashville.

Shayne Corson had two goals, and Brenden Morrow and Jason Arnott also scored for the Stars. Corson was credited with a short-handed goal into an empty net with 1:21 remaining after a pass by Calgary's Chris Clark at his blue line went past everyone into the Flames' net with Kiprusoff was on the bench for the extra skater.

Robitaille became the highest scoring left wing in history, setting up the tying goal by Jozef Stumpel on a power play with 11:09 left. It was the 1,370th career point for Robitaille. He came in tied with Johnny Bucyk.

But the euphoria of the sellout crowd off 18,118 didn't last long.

Smyth carried the puck into the Los Angeles zone and made a cross-ice pass that Marc-Andre Bergeron played off the left boards. His one-timer changed direction off Smyth's stick and beat Cristobal Huet through the legs.

Fernando Pisani also scored as Edmonton extended its winning streak to a season-high five games. It was the fourth straight loss on the homestand for Los Angeles.

The surprising Oilers jumped from ninth place in the Western Conference playoff race to a tie for seventh with Nashville. Two months ago, Edmonton was 12th in the conference, 10 points out of a playoff spot with 20 games remaining.

The Kings are 10th in the West, two points behind idle St. Louis for the eighth and final spot and three behind Edmonton and Nashville.

On the tying goal, Robitaille had the puck in the right corner and passed it into the slot, where Stumpel beat Ty Conklin with a one-timer from 35 feet for his eighth goal.

Robitaille already holds the record for goals by a left wing with 653, and most points in one season at that position with 125 in 1992-93 the only season the Kings made it to the Stanley Cup finals. His 244 power-play goals are fourth on the career list behind Dave Andreychuk, Brett Hull and Phil Esposito.

Robitaille is in his third stint with the Kings, who picked him 171st overall in the 1984 draft. The eight-time All-Star, who turned 38 last month, returned to the club in July after two seasons in Detroit.

Conklin made 25 saves for the Oilers and got a huge assist from teammate Ethan Moreau. He blocked two shots in front of a wide-open net in the second period after Eric Belanger drew Conklin out of his crease.

The Oilers, held to just two shots on net over the first 17 minutes, capitalized on a clumsy turnover by the Kings as Pisani scored his 12th goal at 17:07 of the opening period.

Aaron Miller chased after a loose puck behind the net with Edmonton's Raffi Torres, and both fell down as Kings rookie Esa Pirnes took possession. But Pirnes tripped over Miller's stick and coughed up the puck to Pisani, whose attempted centering pass to Adam Oates from the left circle caromed into the net off Los Angeles defenseman Nathan Dempsey.

Notes: Pisani's goal ended a string of six consecutive goals by Edmonton defensemen including all five in Sunday's win at San Jose. ... Jason Holland, whose goal with 6 seconds left in regulation beat the Oilers 4-3 at Edmonton on Jan. 31, hasn't scored since. He missed four games because of a bruised leg and has been a healthy scratch the last eight games. ... Edmonton's winning streak is its longest since a six-game stretch March 14-26, 2002. ... Bucyk sent a videotaped congratulatory message that was played on the video board shortly after the milestone was reached.